you know that i could use somebody
i.
The music is loud, the club is stuffy and almost unbearably warm, and the guy in front of her keeps waggling his eyebrows suggestively, so Jinora couldn't wait to go home. Why she had even allowed Korra to drag her here was beyond her. Oh yeah, because, You need to get out of the house more. Come on Jin, it'll be fun! Oh yeah, this was real fun. If not for the guy in front of her, she wouldn't have hesitated to grab her purse, push her way through the crowd and walk out the door - why can't he just go away?
"So beautiful," he says slowly, in a low voice, "what do you say I buy you a drink?"
"No thank you," she replies politely, a strained smile on her face. She doesn't really drink, maybe a glass of wine once in a blue moon, but that's about it.
"Too bad." And he finishes his drink in one gulp, before he wipes the back of his mouth with his hand. "I'm Luke, and I can make all your dreams come true." He sticks out his hand, but Jinora refrains from shaking it.
"I'm afraid that those dreams would turn into nightmares," she says curtly, her eyes scanning the club for a way out. Should she just excuse herself? Or say she has to go to the bathroom?
"There you are!" Her eyes snap to a tall dark-skinned stranger walking towards her, grinning, with a drink in each hand. He seems sort of familiar, for some reason...
"I've been looking all over for you." He takes the bar stool next to her and hands her a glass. She wraps her fingers around it, slightly in shock. The young man's handsome, definitely, with an undercut and messy hair and a friendly smile; good features overall, but she has no idea as to what's going on. "Who are you?" the young man asks, looking towards Luke, his tone suddenly with a sharp edge to it.
"I'm Luke Bensworth," he answers, slouching and frowning. "And you are...?"
"I'm Kai, her boyfriend." She looks to the stranger, confused, but his green eyes say Just play along so she nods earnestly. "And I would appreciate it if you didn't hit on my girlfriend anymore."
Luke seems to take a moment to size Kai up, the latter being at least a head taller and more physically fit, if the muscles of his arms under his green button-up shirt were any proof, before he gets off the stool and slinks away, scowling.
"Sorry to take you by surprise like that, but it looked like that guy needed some help getting the message that you weren't interested," Kai says gently and takes a sip of his drink.
Jinora blinks, taken aback, but then a small smile comes onto her face as she realizes what he had been doing. "Yeah, thanks. Some guys can't take a hint." She sets the glass on the counter, not touching it. Although moments ago, she was ready to run out the door, she feels she has to least repay Kai for his help. Besides, this could actually be a nice conversation. "Can I get you a drink or something?"
Kai shakes his head. "I don't want to drink too much. I have class tomorrow. I take an English course at Republic City University," he explains. She chuckles lightly and he gave her a questioning look.
"That's why you look familiar - I take a history course there, I must have seen you on campus once, or something," she says, smiling gently. Kai's brow furrows.
"I don't think we've run into each other before, because trust me, I would have remembered you."
A blush lines Jinora's cheeks and her smile grows. "Uh..." she stammered, unsure of what to say, flustered. "Thanks?" she tried feebly. Kai responded only with a laugh. Then, Jinora glances down at her watch and her eyes widened; it's later than she had thought it was. "Oh no, I gotta get going, I have work tomorrow."
She starts to check her bag to make sure she has everything: phone, wallet, pens, a pack of gum...
"Where do you work?" Kai asks, sounding almost upset that she was leaving. It made her blush deeper. Having an attractive guy be polite and sort of interested in you was way more flattering than some weird guy who wouldn't leave you alone.
"Wan Shi Tong's Library, I'm a librarian there," she answers, seeing that she does indeed have everything she needs and looks up. Kai is quickly scribbling something onto a napkin.
She closes her bag when she feels Kai press a napkin into her hands. On the napkin, hastily scrawled but still legible, is a phone number. His phone number, she realizes. Her cheeks redden again.
"I realized I never caught your name," he says promptly, "and figured I had to fix that." As he looks up at her, she could spy some nervousness in his eyes, his cheeks taking on a light pink tinge.
"I'll be sure to give you a call," she says, and means it. "As for my name, it's Jinora."
Kai grins widely, and doesn't stop even as she exits the bar. "Jinora," he repeats softly.
And when she gives him a call the next evening and they don't stop talking for a while, and he visits her at the library the day after, she loves the way her name sounds safe in his mouth.
ii.
Really, Jinora shouldn't have been surprised to learn that Kai had chosen this coffee shop for them to meet at. It's a hangout that writers favour, after all, and it is on campus. What surprises her is the way her heart flutters when she sees him at one of the tables, writing in a notebook, his face scrunches up in concentration. That hasn't happened before, but then again, he does look... cute.
She stays near the door for a few moments, not wanting to interrupt his flow (she hates when it happens when she's writing an essay) but he seems to feel her eyes on him and looks up, his face splitting into a grin.
"Hey," he greets as she slides into the other seat of the table.
"Working on something special?" she guesses. He shrugs halfheartedly.
"Yeah, actually, I wanted your opinion on it," he says cheerfully. "It's for my course." He pushes the notebook towards her, and gingerly, she takes it into her hands and reads. It's a poem, of sorts.
Her smile makes my heart flutter
and I know how butterflies feel
as they float on the wind
Her laugh is golden
hues of yellow and light
that steal the rain away
and make my day sunny
She glances up at his expectant expression, and smiles. "It's really good Kai," she tells him, and he seems to glow at her praise, his cheeks pink, when a question comes to mind: who inspired it? She knows he doesn't have a girlfriend - that came up in their long phone call three weeks ago - but maybe there's a girl he likes. The thought makes disappointment settle in her stomach. She thought that... maybe he was interested in her?
"Who's the inspiration?" she asks, hoping she doesn't sound bitter, or upset.
Kai turns red, and doesn't speak at first, but then mutters, "You."
Her face is scarlet, and nervously she smiles, and he nervously he smiles back and laces his fingers through her own. The next time they meet at the coffee shop, that Friday night, it's officially a date.
iii.
When Jinora tells Korra about it, the older girl - who's almost twenty-seven, which is crazy to think about - says exactly what Jinora expected: "See, I told you going to the bar would be fun!" Than again, she herself was almost twenty-one.
"It wasn't fun," Jinora reminds her, "I just met Kai there."
"Yeah yeah, but just so you know, if you two get married I get to be the Maid of Honour."
"Korra!" Jinora stammers, blushing furiously, "We've only been dating for a couple of weeks!"
Korra grins and winks at her. "You know, you're right, the real test is if he can get your dad's seal of approval."
Another two weeks pass before she and Kai drive down to her house. He's nervous, she knows, because of how much he fidgets with the rim of his shirt, so as the car pulls up in the driveway, she places a hand on his. He looks up at her and gulps.
"You're going to do fine," she reassures him, and gently presses her lips against his. He gives her a small smile and returns it, squeezing his hand one last time before they get out of the car.
Since Kai's an only child, Jinora worries how he'll take to her rambunctious younger siblings, Ikki, Meelo, and Rohan (seventeen, fifteen and ten respectively) but he has a way with them, to her surprise. Ikki and Meelo instantly think he's cool because of the single earring he has - Jinora can see Tenzin eyeing it disapprovingly from ten feet away - and he takes a genuine interest in whatever Rohan starts rambling about, whether it's sports or personal hobbies.
Pema takes to him warmly, like she does with everyone, but Jinora can tell Kai knows that her mother is the real parent to fear if he broke her heart. Because of the earring Tenzin first thinks of Kai as a hooligan, hearing that he's doing well in school, has a steady job writing up promotional pieces for Future Industries' products and is out of his parents' house means Kai earns a small smile and the seal of approval as they leave together.
Although the smile fades when Pema remarks, "I bet they'll move in together."
iv.
Kai brings her coffee at the library and visits every day on his lunch break once they've graduated. It brightens up her day, especially when the library's business has been slow and there's not much for her to do. There's also many quiet, private places for a good kiss session, if they want to.
But most of the time Jinora takes her break too and they lounge around on armchairs and collect old favourite books and read together. Or rather, Jinora reads to him. She loves reading aloud and knows if she ever has children - perhaps now, maybe dark-skinned, green-eyed children - she'll read to them every day until they don't let her. And Kai loves being read to.
Sometimes she thinks they're a match made in heaven. And other times, she knows it.
She knows because their hands and mouths seem to fit together perfectly. She knows it because she can tell how he's feeling, thinking, by exchanging just a look with him and he can do the same. She knows it because after even two years together he still makes her breathless and her heart flutter every time she sees him.
She knows it because when they're a mess of limbs and tangled up in bed sheets in the morning she isn't scared at all and says, "I love you," and knows it's true with ever fiber of her being. He says it right back and it feels so good and right to hear.
And she knows that she'll never get tired of hearing nor saying it.
v.
It's raining one night as they walk back to their apartment. Kai pulls her closer to him, and they huddle together under the umbrella happily. There's a ring on her finger and it makes her hand feel oddly heavy and light at the same time.
True to her word, Korra is the Maid of Honour. Jinora has had dreams about her wedding day for so many years but none of it compares to the actual thing, mostly because she's marrying Kai. Pema cries openly, Tenzin denies to a teasing Korra that he cried at all (he so did) and Kai's parents look at her with such loving, grateful gazes she knows her heart can't be any fuller than it is right now.
After the honeymoon, life returns to normal. Ordinary life is blissful for all the right reasons, especially one night as she tells him excitedly, "I got a promotion!"
Kai wraps his arms around her and kisses her, saying, "That's fantastic, love," because her happiness is his happiness. A few months pass before he's the one with an announcement to make: his book is getting published.
"Now will you finally let me read it?" she asks jokingly. Her husband has been keeping the entire project - what the book's about, and anything else pertaining to it - a complete secret.
Grinning, Kai nods.
vi.
Jinora holds the book gingerly, like she did with his notebook, reading his work for the very first time all those years ago. The title, "The Story of Us," is written in big gold letters with a silhouette of a man and a woman underneath. Slowly, with Kai holding her in his arms, she opens the book and gasps at the dedication.
For my beautiful best friend and wife, Jinora.
This is the story of us.
And below that is the old poem she inspired. Tears well in her eyes as she gives him a kiss before turning to the first chapter and reads aloud like she always loved to: "It may sound odd, but I have a random stranger named Luke Bensworth to thank for the happiest years of my life, because he led me to the best thing that ever happened to me."
Jinora looks up at him, tears of happiness sliding down her cheeks, and wants to say something, but his green eyes say Just keep reading so she does, her smile growing only bigger. She doesn't - can't, make it past the first chapter.
She turns to him and says, "Thank you." It doesn't seem like enough - how could it ever be enough, but he squeezes her hand she knows he understands what she can't express in words.
A sly smile crawls across her face soon though, and there's a mischievous glint her eyes. "Although Kai," she says, placing her hands on her belly, "you'll have to add an epilogue. There's going to be a baby running around soon."
The grin that splits across his face is one that could only rival the one from their wedding day and he picks her up and spins her around.
And as she laughs and gives him a wide smile and they don't stop laughing for a while, and he smiles until his cheeks hurt, she loves the way her heart is forever safe in his hands.
A/N: I don't even know where I was going with this near the end - started out as an excuse to write modern AU older Kainora, to be honest. I feel like my writing got a little haphazard, but I do actually like the way I wrote all of this. But please, tell me what you liked and didn't like in the box below. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
And I know I should be working on "To Fall" or "The thief and the airbender" requests but this just wouldn't leave me alone - also my fifth story for the pairing, whoo-hoo! :)
Disclaimer: None of the characters belong to me (besides Luke Bensworth but who really cares about him?) and the song is Use Somebody by Kings of Leon.
PS: I had to remove the song lyrics due to the fact it actually violates an agreement when you sign up for the site. Oopsie.
I hope you all have a great day!